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The enormous turnip.

I recently read a traditional folk tale which I believe can be used

Successfully on lessons in leadership, teambuilding and influencing skills in training. What struck me most about this tale is how one can easily relate to it, the fact that in our daily walk, we tend to look at those that aren’t so outspoken, are shy or not overly active as people we can do without. I hope this tale will help you realize never to underestimate the mice in our team. It might be that their weight is just enough to tip the balance.

The enormous turnip.

Once upon a time, an old man planted a little turnip seed, and said,

‘Grow, grow little turnip, grow sweet and strong.’

And sure enough the turnip grew up sweet and strong –and big- and bigger and ENORMOUS.

One day the old man decided that it was time to pull up the turnip. He pulled, and pulled and tagged and tagged, but it would not shift. He called to the old woman, ‘Old woman, come and help me pull up this turnip. ‘

The old woman got hold of the old man and the old man pulled the turnip, but to no avail. They still could not pull it up. So the old woman called to her granddaughter, ‘Grand daughter she said, ‘come and help me pull up this turnip up

The granddaughter got hold of the old woman, the old woman got hold of the old man and the old man pulled the turnip. They tagged and heaved but still the turnip did not move.

The granddaughter called to the black dog, ‘Black dog, come and help us to pull this turnip up’.

The black dog got hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter got hold of the old woman, the old woman got hold of the old man and the old man pulled the turnip. But no luck -the turnip remained just where it was

The black dog called the cat ‘Cat, come and help us pull this turnip up.’

The cat got hold of the black dog, the black dog got hold of the grand daughter, the granddaughter got hold of the old woman, the old woman got hold of the old man and the old man pulled the turnip. But still they had no success. ‘Well, said the cat as they all tried to get their breath back

’the only thing left is to call the mouse.’

‘’The MOUSE?’’’ the others exclaimed, ‘what good would he do, he is so small’

Nevertheless the cat called the mouse,’’mouse, will you come and help us pull this turnip up?’’

The mouse got hold of the cat, the cat got hold of the black dog, the black dog got hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter got hold of the old woman, the old woman got hold of the old man and the old man pulled the turnip.

POP.’-out came the turnip at last.

And so that night they all enjoyed a delicious meal of turnip and the mouse sat at the head of the table.